French leader Hollande to visit Mali

PRESIDENT Francois Hollande prepared to visit Mali as French-led troops worked to secure the last Islamist stronghold in the north after a lightning offensive against the extremists.

Hollande will visit Mali on Saturday with Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Development Minister Pascal Canin, his office said, three weeks after French troops launched a surprise intervention against Islamists in its former colony.

The trip comes as troops are gathered on Friday at the gates of Kidal, a sandy northeastern outpost that is the last rebel stronghold in the poor west African country, poised to secure the town after capturing its airport on Wednesday.

The French-led campaign has claimed a rapid succession of victories in key Islamist strongholds where citizens greeted troops with euphoria.

In the fabled city of Timbuktu, a school reopened on Friday for the first time since a March coup in Bamako which paved the way for the Islamists to seize towns across northern Mali, taking control of an area as large as Texas.

"When the Islamists took control they wanted to re-open the school, but on their terms: a different curriculum, lessons in Arabic, girls separated from boys and forced to wear veils. We refused," said teacher Aichatou Amadou.

But the joy of citizens throwing off the yoke of brutal Islamist rule, where they were denied music and television and threatened with whippings, amputations or execution, has been accompanied by a grim backlash against light-skinned citizens seen as supporters of the al Qaeda-linked radicals.

Rights groups have reported summary executions by both the Malian army and the Islamists.

Human Rights Watch detailed the killing of at least 13 suspected Islamist supporters in the central garrison town of Sevare.

The victims were shot and dumped into wells, said the watchdog, a report corroborated by other rights groups.

These abuses took place as the Islamists seized Konna, north of Sevare, in a push into government-held territory which sparked France's surprise intervention on January 11 amid fears the entire country could become a haven for terrorists.

In Konna, another five people were "disappeared", their relatives and neighbours told Human Rights Watch.

"Malian authorities have turned a blind eye to these very disturbing crimes," said senior West Africa researcher Corinne Dufka, calling for an investigation.